The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 556th meeting held on 10 November 2015, was briefed by the Commission on the situation in Burkina Faso. Council also followed the statements made by the representatives of Burkina Faso and Senegal, in its capacity as the country chairing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as well as by those of the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), France and the United States of America.
Council recalled communiqués PSC/PR/COMM.3(DXLIV) and PSC/AHG/COMM.3(DXLVII), adopted at its 544th and 547th meetings held on 18 and 26 September 2015, respectively.
Council reiterated its appreciation and support to the authorities of the Transition, the political stakeholders and the civil society, as well as to the people of Burkina Faso, for their exemplary mobilization which helped to foil the coup d’Etat perpetrated in September 2015 and to fully reinstate all the transitional institutions. Council encouraged them to persevere in their determination to successfully implement the Transition launched in Burkina Faso since November 2014.
Council took note of the decision of the authorities of the Transition, taking into account exceptional circumstances, to finally organize the presidential and legislative elections on 29 November 2015. In this regard, Council welcomed the conduct of the electoral process and called upon the political actors engaged in the electoral campaign, which opened on 8 November 2015, to continue to exercise restraint and to resolutely inscribe their action within the existing legislative and regulatory framework and in compliance with the provisions of the Pact on Good Conduct signed on 21 August 2015.
Council requested the Commission to take all necessary steps to deploy, as quickly as possible, an Election Observation Mission in Burkina Faso. Council, once again, encouraged all the Member States to consider sending, at their own expenses and within the framework of the AU Observation Mission, observers to ensure an as effective as possible observation of the polls which will mark the end of the Transition. Council also urged all members of the international community to provide the necessary financial support for the organization of the municipal elections planned for the beginning of 2016.
Council reiterated its appeal to the Member States, as well as to the bilateral and multilateral partners, to provide all the necessary support for the long-term stabilization of Burkina Faso and the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law. Council requested the Commission, in consultation with ECOWAS and the UN, to organize, in due course, in Ouagadougou, a meeting of the International Support and Follow-up Group to the Transition in Burkina Faso (GISAT-BF), to discuss the modalities for a sustained support of the international community after the completion of the electoral process and to agree on the most appropriate mechanism for this purpose.
Council also reiterated its appreciation to ECOWAS and to its current Chairman, President Macky Sall of Senegal, as well as to the other leaders of the region, for their sustained action in favor of the Transition in Burkina Faso. Council welcomed the sustained efforts of the UN in Burkina Faso, through the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas.
Council agreed to continue to regularly review the situation in Burkina Faso.
